Who Said She Didn't Like Sand in Her Eyes?
by yuugiri
Summary: A collection of One Shots with varying themes and ratings. Submitted for the spring theme of G.I.F.T., a GaaIno Fanclub.
1. Under Cherry Trees and in Toilet Cubicle

**Description: **Written for the G.I.S.T. (GaaIno Spring's Tale 2012) event of G.I.F.T. (GaaIno Forever True), a GaaraxIno Fanclub. Especially dedicated to el Cierto, who was the one who recruited me to join. Thanks for the inspiration, el!

**Main Theme:** Spring

**Sub-Theme:** Hanami (Flower Watching)

**Universe: **A.U.

**Rating:** T for Kiba's perverted mouth and hinted sexual themes

**Genre:** Comedy, Romance

**Word Count: **4,679

**WARNING: **Slightly OOC, but you can blame that on the alcohol.

**Summary:** People do stupid things when they're drunk, happy and looking at flowers. That's just how it is.

* * *

**Under Cherry Trees and in Toilet Cubicles**

_By: Yuugiri_

One of the biggest problems of today's society was that they try to value too much of the things that don't really matter. Like, say, show business. People turn on their television sets every single day to watch other people live their lives and see Actress A marrying Actor C, only to turn on their television sets three months later to see Actress A and Actor C get a divorce. It was pathetic.

Another example was politics. Those running for prime minister try their best to get elected by the public, and then they would make a big blunder, wound their pride, and resign before the people who voted for them start to blame them for bad economy, high gasoline prices and dwindling employment rates.

It was sick.

People were sick.

Because the world around them was already busy with unimportant things like show business and politics, and here they were, sitting on blue, plastic sheets under cherry blossoms, barbecuing chicken and pork in skewers and drinking alcohol and having a good time and being as unimportant as those people who worry about Actress A and Actor C's divorce.

Gaara loosened his tie, looked down at the empty beer can in his hand and groaned inwardly. This happened every year. _Every single year_. His editing company would go all out and close for a day just for everyone to compulsorily join the Hanami event held in Sumida Park in the afternoon. The stupid gathering lasted until late in the night.

Gaara never liked social gatherings. It was not as if he liked _everyone_ at work. Sure, going out for a few drinks with a handful of friends was one thing. But hanging out with people at work in hours when you don't _have_ to hang out with them was another.

"They wear skirts short enough to show off their panties, and they get mad when we look at them. I mean, what's up with that?" Uzumaki Naruto mumbled lazily as he leaned back on his elbows, looking over to the other side of the grassy glade where a group of women was gathered around a barbecue pit, happily talking about something that Gaara couldn't quite hear.

Nara Shikamaru snorted and a puff of smoke trailed out of his nose after taking a long drag from his cigarette. "It means _'don't look'_. Or, _'don't get caught looking'_. It doesn't really matter. Why do guys get kicks in seeing underwear, anyway?"

"Shikamaru's right," Inuzuka Kiba suddenly butted in as he dropped down on their plastic sheet with several cans of beer in his hand. "I mean, if they aren't wearing _any _underwear, then yeah, I'd look. But you wouldn't see me masturbating over it."

Gaara narrowed his eyes at the lewd man as he accepted a drink from him, discarding his empty can in the garbage bag beside him. He wisely didn't say anything. Kiba always had a way with words that always got him into trouble with the opposite sex. That was why he didn't like mingling with his coworkers. It was just too bothersome and he could think of a dozen other important things to do at work.

Like, say, edit. And stuff. His author had been squirming his way out of his fingers because it was almost deadline for his manuscript and the man was still a chapter short.

"Gaara, don't you dare think of sneaking away while we're not looking," Naruto said, looking over to him and giving him a toothy grin. "I can practically hear what you're thinking."

Gaara raised his eyes to his best friend and sighed. Naruto was the only reason he was here in the first place. The man was resilient in inviting him over every year to company events that he knew he wouldn't enjoy. Gaara had always wondered why he let Naruto convince him into gatherings that involved social skills and plenty of booze. He had a low tolerance for both. He should have known better than to attend. Gatherings like these were the reason why he had ended up naked in his condo's elevator, passed out and a freaking tattoo of a kanji that read 'love' on his forehead last year.

He shuddered. It had been a bet he shouldn't have called. Naruto had the stamina and the alcohol tolerance of a hundred men. Gaara had been out like a light after his fifth bottle while the blonde danced around the bar with his eleventh. Everything had been a blur and he woke up the next morning in his condo's elevator with no shirt and his forehead hurting. He had never felt so embarrassed – or so mad – his whole life. He had been the laughing stock of his friends for weeks.

Gaara touched the tattoo on top of his left eye before giving Naruto a bored look. "I'm leaving at seven. You can't stop me."

Naruto looked at his watch. Gaara knew it was already five in the afternoon. "Aww, man. That's too early. The party's barely getting started."

"Yeah, just wait for a few more hours and the ladies over there would get drunk enough to get naked. Remember last year when Techikawara Mari got so drunk she went skinny dipping in the pond?" Kiba asked excitedly. Gaara could practically see drool dripping down Kiba's chin.

"First of all, Techikawara Mari didn't _jump_ in the lake herself. You _pushed_ her," Gaara drawled, annoyed. Kiba and her women. "And Haruno Sakura clobbered you for being an ass."

"Ah, sweet, sweet Sakura!" Kiba said dreamily as he looked up at the cherry blossoms over their heads. "I bet her kisses are as sweet as her punches."

Naruto was not happy. "Will you please stop thinking that about my girlfriend's friend?"

Kiba shook his head in disbelief. "Man, I can't believe you snagged Hyuuga Hinata from under my nose. That girl is _fine._"

Naruto made to lunge at Kiba. Shikamaru was between the two in a second. "Naruto, sit down. Kiba, shut the hell up."

The two men flopped back down on the plastic sheet to nurse their beers, Naruto looking sour, Kiba not the least bit looking guilty.

Gaara groaned inwardly. This was going to be a very, _very_ long night. He put down his beer, pushed himself up to a standing position and brushed his bottom with a hand.

Shikamaru looked up at him. "Huh? Going somewhere?"

"You're not running away, are you?" Naruto accused.

Gaara glared down at Naruto, then Kiba, then finally at Shikamaru. Thinking that Shikamaru was the sanest to talk to, he said to the Nara, "I'm going to the men's room."

Shikamaru blinked at him before finally nodding. "Oh. All right. You'd better not run away. I don't want to be left with these two when they start to get drunk."

"What are you talking about? I'm a very refined drunk! Just don't let me loose on those women – "

"Shut the hell up, Kiba," Shikamaru snapped.

Gaara nodded, deep down inside thinking that _he_ didn't want to be around when those two got drunk. Maybe if Shikamaru wasn't married to his older sister, then he could have abandoned the man with a clean conscience. But Gaara did not want to have to go home and face Temari with the guilt that he had left her husband in the hands of Naruto and Kiba. "I'll be back soon."

He set off towards the public rest rooms on the other side of the clump of cherry blossoms, away from the crowd. He took a deep breath, for the first time that day finally relaxing. He couldn't believe that they were out in this broad, open park and he still felt very stifled.

He dug in his pocket for his cell phone and sighed when he discovered his author still hadn't called. Idiot Rock Lee. What's up with that pen name, anyway? Lee was going to weasel his way out of his deadline. Again. And Gaara will have to pick another bone with the printing press for it.

He hated having to talk with anyone with the printing press… Nagato was a pain. Konan was another thing to think about. They nag. Nag. Nag.

And then nag some more.

Gaara looked up from his phone by the time he reached the public toilet, hurried up with his business and was washing his hands when one of the strangest things happened.

A woman walked in.

It took a while before Gaara's brain registered that a woman was in the _men's toilet_ with him.

She was tall, blonde and blue-eyed.

And she had her shirt in her hand.

Not _on _her.

No, she wasn't wearing it. She was holding it.

In her hand.

She was standing there, looking at him. _In her bra. _

While in normal circumstances, perhaps if it weren't Gaara, being alone in the men's room with a half-naked pretty lady with a considerably big chest would have made the average male's nose bleed.

Gaara was probably lucky he was Gaara.

Gaara turned off the faucet, shook his hand dry, then pointed at her dully. "You're in the men's room. The ladies' is over there." He jerked his thumb carelessly out the door.

"Ga… Gaara-kun?" she muttered and squinted at him.

Gaara blinked. She knew his name. He seldom remembered a person's name, more so their faces, but this girl was sort of familiar. Ah. Now he remembered.

Her name was Yamanaka. Yamanaka… _whatserface_… From their sales department. Oh, yeah.

"Fancy meeting you here." There wasn't anything remotely fancy with it, though. She rubbed her mouth with the back of her hand. Her eyes were darting from one place to another. The woman still was missing the important fact that she was in the _men's room_. That, and that she was naked, waist-up.

_She's drunk._

Gaara decided that getting out of there was the wisest thing to do. He moved for the door. "Excuse me. I'll leave you to your – what the – !"

It happened in a blur. She was standing there. For a second she was just _standing _there! The next, she was falling into Gaara's arms the moment he tried to brush past her. She had fallen forward, and Gaara had grabbed her out of instinct. He was glad she was as light as a feather; the last thing he wanted was to have her fall head-first on the floor's dirty, mouldy tiles. Too bad he had to prioritize preventing her face from having a collision with the floor, because he hadn't completely put into consideration where to grab her to prevent it. He discovered his arm had caught her around the waist. His other hand was cupping her left breast. Having her in nothing but a bra was not helping him.

_Dammit._

"Yamanaka! Oi, Yamanaka!" Gaara cried as he shifted his hand to a less private part of her body. He took her shoulders and shook her lightly, leaning majority of her weight to one side of his body. Her head lulled to the side, tucking itself comfortably on Gaara's shoulder. He caught a whiff of her hair. It smelled of strawberries and milk. And… was that vomit?

"Yamanaka!" he tried again.

"Ugh…" she murmured as her arms suddenly snaked their way around Gaara's neck and she pulled herself up. She conveniently dropped her shirt on his head.

Gaara stiffened in his place when the shirt veiled over his eyes. It smelled something like watermelon cologne. And more vomit. This was honestly not the way he wanted to spend his Hanami.

"Gaara-kun…" Ino once again said in that slurry way drunk people usually talked. She seemed to have gotten hold of her footing, because she had somehow managed to push him against the wall of the lavatory and was now unconsciously pressed flush against him.

"Yamanaka, this is the men's room. You don't have a top on. And you're pressing against my…!"

This was bad. This was _very _bad.

"I like you," she said.

Gaara blinked from under the shirt over his head. He did not know how long it took for him to react, but when what she said finally registered, he asked the first thing that came into his mind. _"What?"_

The woman wiggled against him even more, and that was when Gaara started to panic. Anyone could walk in at any time, find him with a half-naked drunk woman, and assume what anyone would assume. No, this spring will not find him accused of sexual harassment.

Although in this case it was obvious he was the one being sexually harassed. _She _had walked in on _him_. _She _was the one who had her shirt in her hand and not on herself, and _she _was the one who had _him _cornered against a dirty public restroom.

"I've… been… trying so hard," the woman suddenly started to whisper in his ear. "To get you… to notice me… _Why won't you notice me?"_

Damn spring. Was it true that women were always in heat during spring?

Gaara paused once more and tried to fend off her invading knee from hitching over his hip. _Trying so hard? _The editing department and sales department were separated by three floors. He hardly even saw her around him at all.

Except for that time when he had forgotten his umbrella at home on a rainy day, and she had an extra umbrella. It was lavender. She said it was old and that she didn't need it so she said he can have it. It was only when Gaara finally got home did he notice the price tag still attached to its strap. She had bought it from the gift shop of their building on the first floor.

But that was practically the only time they actually had an encounter… uh… wait…

Ah, but then there was that one time when he didn't have an exact change for the vending machine for a coffee. And then she was there, and she had been kind enough to spare him a hundred and twenty yen for his usual black. She had even pressed the button for him, though he never really figured out how she knew what he wanted to drink.

And then not to forget the time when he was already running late on a deadline and he was trying to push himself in finishing everything until the late evening. He'd thought everyone had already left the building. But she was there. And she had hot chocolate with her for some weird reason. And when she had made sure he had calmed down and did not kill his assigned author, she left saying something like, _"Don't push yourself too much, Gaara-kun!"_

Gaara snatched the shirt covering his head and stared down at the Yamanaka as if seeing her for the first time. Well, sure it was the first time he had seen her in a bra, but…

And dammit, she was looking up at him!

She pushed herself away from him suddenly, and in a second was throwing up in the sink near them. Gaara stood petrified, leaning against the wall, unsure if he should take this chance to get away. The real miracle happened when he found himself approaching her and holding her hair away from her face and rubbing her back.

"Yamanaka," he started. "Are you all right?"

Yamanaka belched, nodded, then started barfing all over again. This was the first time Gaara was faced with such a predicament. The least she could do was wear her shirt.

Gaara stared down at said shirt. Vomit. Shaking his head, he dropped the clothing on the sink, shrugged his coat off and draped it over her shoulders. Now what?

…

_Now what?_

"Uhm… I should… call your friends over," Gaara started. Maybe they can take her home.

She was leaning against the sink, but it looked like she was finally feeling better. "I'm… ugh… I'm fine. I can find my way back…" She pushed herself from the sink. She wavered.

Gaara clutched her elbow to keep her from falling over. "You can't go back looking like… "

_Looking like what? Looking like you've been raped?_

Yeah, that sounded right. Oh, god. The last thing Gaara needed was for this little incident to reach the grapevine. He could just see it now:

"_Hey, hey! Have you heard? Yamanaka and Sabaku were seen together in the men's toilet in the company Hanami event. Yeah, and I heard Yamanaka came out of the toilet with no clothes on! Well, she was wearing Sabaku's coat. Sounds fishy, right? I know! I never expected for Sabaku to do such a thing! We'd better watch out for those silent types. They're always the ones who snap first."_

Gaara shuddered. No. That would make his working environment harder than it already was. No. No. No. That just won't do.

He looked down at his watch. It was already five thirty. Dark enough to make an escape, he supposed.

_What?_

Why was he acting like he did something bad? It was not his fault he had touched her breasts accidentally. It was not his fault that the woman was drunk enough to forget herself and grind up against him so indecently.

"Yamanaka," he started.

"Ino."

"What?"

"Stop calling me Yamanaka. My name is Ino. It's easier to say. It has two syllables. Three damn letters… " She hiccupped, wiped the trail of drool down her chin and turned to him with unfocused eyes. "I bet you don't even remember my name! Oh, I knew it! I shouldn't have let Tenten talk me into this!" She began to cry.

Then she pushed Gaara away and made to run for the door.

And that was when Gaara started to _really _panic. If she started running amok in the darkness, with _his _coat on, looking completely harassed and wasted...

Oh, the rumors.

"_Hey, hey. Did you hear? Sabaku tried to do the nasty with Yamanaka Ino even when she didn't even want to."_

"_Really? I heard she was crying because Sabaku didn't even know her name. He didn't even know her name and he _wanted_ to do it with her. Ugh. Unacceptable. We should really be careful of those silent types. They must have bipolar tendencies…"_

No.

_No, no, no. _

He grabbed her wrist and yanked her back. She let out a loud cry, teetered dangerously to the left and conveniently tripped on her own feet. Luckily, Gaara happened to be there to cushion her fall. They both went crashing on the cold, dirty-looking tiles of the public men's room. Gaara barely felt his head hit the hard wall, and the next thing he knew, she was on top of him with Gaara's coat flapping open to expose her chest and flat stomach. Her legs, he soon found out as well, were straddling his hips in a position that would have made Kiba jealous.

And she was looking down at him.

She was looking.

Down at him.

With those big blue eyes with tear stains trailing down her cheeks.

"Oh, god. You hit your head. Are you all right, Gaara-kun? Can you get up? _Get up!"_

She had her hands planted firmly on his chest. Gaara groaned. "I can't get up if you're holding me down. Get off me."

She was a smart girl. She knew how to get off by herself. She crawled off him, whimpering something Gaara couldn't quite understand. He pushed himself up, thinking that this was exactly one of the reasons why he didn't like events like this.

"Don't go back to the others dressed like that. People will talk," Gaara told her, feeling the back of his head with a hand. There was a nice lump forming there. And it was throbbing. God help him. He hoped he didn't have a concussion.

"My… friends are waiting for me… " she muttered, looking lost for a second. She paused, then suddenly grabbed Gaara's collar and shook him violently. "It's their fault!" she cried angrily. "They talked me into this! I'm gonna kill them! I'm gonna kill them!" She made to stand up.

Gaara grabbed her wrist again, feeling his head throb painfully at the action. "I said don't go out there. Unless you want your social life to dissolve in a matter of seconds." _Or my social life. Which ever_. "If you want to kill your friends, kill them when you're capable of holding a weapon without hurting yourself. Preferably with clothes on. I'm taking you home."

The woman – Ino – stared at him as if he had grown antlers. "Wh-what? Take me home?" She blushed, started to fidget shyly. "But… we hardly know each other… And… we haven't even dated long enough for me to sleep over… "

Gaara felt his own face brighten, then his cheek muscle twitched involuntarily. "I'm taking you to _your _home. Not mine."

Ino blinked down at him, then in a split second her red face reddened further still. Then she started to laugh. Very loudly. "O-of course! How silly of me!" Then she started to get mad. Again. "This is Tenten's fault! I'll kill her! I'll kill her!"

Gaara could only sigh as he slowly got up to his feet, ignoring the pain at the back of his head. They were getting nowhere. And this Ino person was already starting to overwhelm him. Yes. He was starting to believe one thing.

This woman was crazy.

Gaara decided that it would be the wisest option to take a taxi and drop her off at her place. The sooner, the better. And this would be a good enough excuse to escape from this stupid gathering. Shikamaru will have to forgive him.

"Let's go," Gaara said as he made his way towards the door.

Until he heard the footsteps approaching.

_Damn._

Gaara believed he had never moved this fast in his life. In one fell swoop, he had grabbed the abandoned shirt on the sink, gathered a still disoriented Yamanaka Ino in his arms, ran to the nearest cubicle and slammed the door behind them.

"What's wro – !" Ino tried to protest. Gaara clamped a firm hand over her mouth as he used his foot to drop the cover and mounted on the toilet seat.

_What on earth am I doing?_

It was over. Gaara knew his life was over.

Shikamaru and Kiba walked in the men's room.

"… girls wearing their short skirts and all that… " came Kiba's voice.

"Can we talk about something that doesn't have girls in them?" said Shikamaru in his usual bored voice.

"Mmhph!" Ino started to wriggle in Gaara's arms.

"Shh!" Gaara hissed desperately, sweat popping on his forehead.

"Did you hear that?" Shikamaru suddenly said.

"No," Kiba said dumbly as they each entered a cubicle.

"Say, Gaara still hasn't come back."

"He probably left already. He always leaves in the middle of parties."

"That traitor."

"Haven't you gotten used to the man already? He doesn't like big gatherings ever since he got super drunk and woke with that tattoo on his forehead." Kiba laughed.

"It was his fault for getting caught up in a drinking challenge with Naruto."

"I don't even know why he's so sour about it. That tattoo's kinda cool."

"Because you guys abandoned him when he couldn't even go home by himself."

"Hey don't blame it on us. You weren't there to take him home, either."

"Oh, sorry to have abandoned you when my wife called me to say she just went into labor."

"Sheesh! Lighten up, Shikamaru! Yamakana Ino came along to save him eventually, right?"

Ino gasped against his hand.

Gaara felt his foot nearly slip and he balanced himself against the cubicle walls with his elbows. Luckily, that was the exact same time Shikamaru or Kiba flushed the toilet. Ino's protests – and probably Gaara's loud, beating heart – got drowned out by the sound of flushing water.

"It just so happened Ino came along when you guys left him to go home alone, totally intoxicated he hardly knew up from down."

"Oh, how would you know? You weren't even there."

"Ino and I work in the same department, idiot. She was complaining about you guys all day after that incident when she just found Gaara in front of the izakaya, and for some reason in nothing but his jeans. She told me she looked for his clothes in the izakaya but she couldn't find them."

"Of course she couldn't find them. I took them home."

There was a loud, banging sound of the door of the cubicle opening, another loud banging and a cry. Shikamaru must have yanked Kiba out of his cubicle and had hit him over the head.

"You go too far with your jokes, Inuzuka," Shikamaru hissed.

Kiba laughed happily. "So? And then what happened?"

Gaara could hear the two washing their hands. Ino's face was suddenly very, very red, and her eyes were closed tightly.

"You don't know? Ino had to carry Gaara back to his apartment. I don't know how she did it, but she did."

"She knows where he lives? Isn't that convenient?"

"They live in the same neighborhood."

Gaara felt his eyes widen as he looked down at Ino, who still had her own eyes closed.

_We live in the same neighborhood? _

He didn't even know. Heck, he didn't even know this woman was the one who saved him that night, a year ago.

"Anyway, Ino was successful in dragging Gaara back to his condo's elevator, but he started to come to. Ino thought of saving him his pride and left him there, in case he'd just get even more embarrassed at being helped by a girl."

Kiba laughed even more. "Sounds like a love story to me. Ow! Don't hit me!"

"I'll stop hitting you when you stop being an ass."

"Ow! Stop it!"

Their voiced disappeared as they both exited the men's room, leaving Gaara wide eyed and stunned speechless, perched on top of a toilet seat, with a woman who was missing her top in his arms.

Slowly, Gaara removed his hand and she took a deep breath through her mouth.

_I think I just heard something that I shouldn't have heard… _

Ino kept her head down as Gaara carefully stepped down from the toilet seat and set her back on her feet. She wouldn't meet his eye. She was wringing her hands around Gaara's coat.

"Are you… feeling all right?" Gaara started after clearing his throat.

She nodded her head slightly before reaching out to open the cubicle. Her hand was shaking. Gaara opened it for her. She stumbled out on equally shaky legs and balanced herself on the opposite wall. Gaara followed her, leaning his back on the wall beside her.

"Can you make it out the grounds in your condition?" he asked softly.

She nodded again, pulling the coat she had around her tighter over her shoulders.

"We can round the Sakura trees lining the park and avoid being seen like this. And get a taxi."

She nodded again.

Gaara looked down at her. "We can share a taxi. Since… we live in the same neighborhood."

"Okay," she said in her tiny voice.

"I can drop you off at your place."

"Yeah."

"You can get changed. And join me for a few drinks. At my place. It's dirty. I haven't cleaned for a while now. But it's spacious. Lots of room to stretch your legs."

She paused, looked up at him, blinked.

Gaara looked away, then forced himself to look back at her again. "You can tell me about yourself more… Ino."

Gaara swore her eyes would fall out of their sockets. She smiled, then opened her mouth as if to say something.

Then she lurched forward and threw up all over Gaara's front.

Gaara closed his eyes in resignation. He didn't even care about the vomit. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her after him as he stalked out of the men's toilet.

He hated these kinds of gatherings. Really, he did.

* * *

A/N: I was aiming for a shoujou manga feel in this story. This is the second time I've written an AU Naruto fic. Sometimes, it's fun to deviate from canon. =D


	2. Where Flowers Bloom

**Description: **Written for the G.I.S.T. (GaaIno Spring's Tale 2012) event of G.I.F.T. (GaaIno Forever True), a GaaraxIno Fanclub. Especially dedicated to el Cierto, who was the one who recruited me to join. Thanks for the inspiration, el!

**Main Theme:** Spring

**Sub-Theme:** Hope

**Universe: **AUish

**Rating:** T

**Genre:** Drama, Romance

**Word Count: **1,190

**Summary:** He always knew that he would find her where there were all things beautiful.

* * *

**Where Flowers Bloom**

_By: Yuugiri_

She had always been a stubborn, stubborn woman. She never listened to him when he told her important things. She always laughed at him instead. _She laughed. _

Not that he had complained about it ever before. He loved the sound of her laughter, even when she was laughing _at _him, which was something she always did.

She found funny things in not so funny things, and for someone who was not so skilled at uncovering any form of happiness in a sand lot, he had fallen in love with her for it.

She was from a different village. What were the chances of their lives crossing and meeting each other? They had but a few common friends, but that was it.

Or maybe that was enough?

He was never a believer in destiny, but it was the only reason he could think of. He was _destined_ to meet her. She was _destined_ to meet him. They were _destined_ to fall in love.

And so they did.

And after a long courtship – because he was inexperienced or because she was just so elusive – she had finally accepted and they were married.

He could say they were happy. She never complained. But then again, falling in love in the middle of a war left people with little to complain about, because they considered being alive a blessing enough.

But he was not content with just living. Not if it _she_ wasn't with him. Not if _she_ was not alive.

_She has to be alive. She just has to be_.

War was ugly. One wouldn't notice it in the throes of fighting, of metal against metal. Of metal against skin. Of fire against skin. Of _sand_ against skin. But when it was all over, one would stand in the middle of the ruined battlefield, and say to themselves, _'It's over… But at what cost?'_

He was standing in the middle of that ruined battlefield, which he soon realized was a forest somewhere between the Hidden Rain and the Hidden Leaf. He could hear skirmishes from a distance, the last dying battles of the war. But it was over. He could hear in the recesses of his brain the echo of Yamanaka Inoichi's voice; the enemy had fallen.

It was over.

But he couldn't find her.

He had told her specifically not to leave his side.

But she had always been a stubborn, stubborn woman. She never listened to him when he told her important things. She always laughed at him instead. She _laughed_.

He could not hear her laughing right now.

After checking if his comrades were still safe – as the Kazekage and commander, it was his duty to do so before anything else – he set off into the trees to find her. She couldn't have gotten far. He had realized she was limping from a kunai to the leg before she got separated from him completely.

He did not believe in a god, but as he lumbered around the forest with his heart in his throat, he _prayed_. He prayed he would find her. He prayed that he would find her _alive_.

They said that before you die, you would see your whole life flash before you. Right now, he knew he was not close to dying. He did not even have a single scratch on him after that war that had killed thousands. But he saw his life flash before him as the seconds ticked and she was nowhere to be found.

He saw the time when he first took interest in her. She had been surrounded by flowers. Lots and lots of flowers. He thought she was pretty and that her hair was like gold. But that was the nearest thing he had ever tried to decipher a woman aesthetically.

He saw her dancing with a number of men in gatherings held between Konoha and Suna, and she had approached him for a dance and he had politely refused. He was not good at dancing, and she laughed at him. She could have easily walked away, but she had stayed with him on his table, a glass of wine in her hands. She talked. A lot. And he nodded. A lot. And that was how their conversations went majority of the time.

He saw her crying happily when Temari and Shikamaru got married. She never cried when she was hurt, or sad, or grieving. But she cried easily when she was happy. He had always thought her strange. But maybe that was the reason why he was so drawn to her.

And he saw her shyly accepting his proposal after a very long courtship. And he saw her smiling and crying at the same time on their wedding day a year ago, just after the war broke.

And he saw her face as he pleasured her on the first night they made love, and marveled at the fact that he could appreciate a woman like this so much that it was physically painful when the moment ended.

And he saw her disappointed face when he told her he was not interested in children, but she had nodded in understanding when he would not listen to the conversation. She had avoided talking about the issue ever since.

But right now, as he searched the forest high and low, he felt like the first thing he wanted to do was beg her to have his children. Three. Maybe four.

He found himself in a clump of Sakura trees after a half hour of searching. The stench of blood was disguised with the scent of the many flowers beneath his feet.

And he felt something within him still. He looked up, pushed against the trees and into the crop. The canopy was letting in random streams of sunlight from above, and if he hadn't been so disoriented, he would have thought it pretty.

And he felt the hope.

Because there, in the middle of the crop, surrounded by a litter of dead bodies, of shinobi wearing clothes bloodied by weapons they themselves carried, was she.

He always knew that he would find her where there were all things beautiful.

He practically flew towards her. She was on her back on the flower bed, the wound on her leg was gone, probably healed by herself. She was very conscious about her looks, and he knew that she was very meticulous about scars.

His heart was beating so hard that he could not even hear himself think. He did not even _know _what to think. Because right now, as he took her into his arms and pressed her against him, and felt the gentle hammering of her heart against his chest, he felt so happy he could have died.

It took forever before she finally, weakly, opened her eyes and stared up at him. She was just so beautiful._ So beautiful._

Her hand was on his cheek, and his lips were on her forehead and he was murmuring apologies to her for having lost her in the battle. And she was shaking her head and kissing him and he was kissing her.

"Gaara," she said.

"Ino…"

And she laughed weakly. Because she always laughed.

And it was the most beautiful sound in the world.

* * *

_A/N: I'm not that good at drama yet. Drama, love scenes and fight scenes are my weakness. Forgive this piece._


	3. Tea and Sympathy

**Description: **Written for the G.I.S.T. (GaaIno Spring's Tale 2012) event of G.I.F.T. (GaaIno Forever True), a GaaraxIno Fanclub. Especially dedicated to el Cierto, who was the one who recruited me to join. Thanks for the inspiration, el!

**Main Theme:** Spring

**Sub-Theme:** Tea

**Rating:** T

**Genre:** Drama, Romance

**Word Count: **2,262

**Summary:** They say marriage was a contract. So why was it that they never got theirs renewed?

* * *

**Tea and Sympathy**

By: Yuugiri

She had always wondered if love had an expiration date. People fall in and fall out of love on a daily basis, with a thousand different reasons they could think of, and convince themselves that it would be a good enough excuse to break up.

Or get a divorce.

Yamanaka Ino wanted a divorce.

Gaara looked up from the documents in his hand. Those teal eyes of his were as glassy and uncaring as always. He lowered the papers on his desk and made to stand. "What?" he asked flatly.

Ino smiled painfully and said, "We've drifted apart. So I think it would be best if we… if we let go. Of each other."

Gaara slowly sat back down on his desk, eyes trained onto Ino's face as if seeing her for the first time. "Let's talk about this."

Ino tilted her head to the side and waited for the rest of the sentence.

"After work."

Ino was not the least bit surprised. "Of course."

* * *

They had been married for four years. It had been a slow courtship, really. They had gotten together over a gathering between the Sand and the Lead. It probably happened by chance. He was there, and she was there. And they just happened to sit beside each other on the table for dinner. He wasn't one to talk, or to initiate a conversation, but they had found common ground in Naruto, Shikamaru and Temari.

Ino didn't even know how it ended up with letter-trading, not-so-frequent visits and the occasional present-sending.

And after a year of "dating", it led to marriage in the spring.

The Leaf and Sand were happy, of course. Sabaku no Gaara was one of the most eligible and desired bachelors in Suna, and Ino was one of the most beautiful and skilled of her clan. Some, of course, didn't see their union coming, but none ever said that it was a bad thing.

They were twenty-three. They had been young. They still were.

Gaara had never been much of the romantic, and she knew that even before she said "I do" four years ago. She didn't have great expectations with their relationship. He was not a bad partner. He did his job well, offered her a beautiful home in the desert, if not lacking in greenery, and he provided well. They never fought. There had been times when she had tried to pick fights with him on purpose – little stuff, like dinner, or what color they should get for their curtains – but he wouldn't take the bait. If anything, he looked nothing more than resigned and let her do what she wanted.

He never complained.

And Ino didn't know how to take that.

Of course, they were still just a man and just a woman. They had had sex a few times in the four years they were together. It was like making love to… to _sand_. Monotonous. _Dry_. She had tried her best to pleasure him. But it didn't seem like Gaara was too concerned of foreplay. It was like he did it because it was mandatory.

The first year of their marriage left Ino wondering if she was just not that desirable to him. By the second year, she started questioning herself as a woman. By the third year, she had started getting incredibly insecure. By the time their fourth year came, she just bacame extremely indifferent.

So Gaara did not like sex. So what? She did not have the right to judge a person – even if that person was her husband – if they were just asexual.

She had given up on the dream of having children.

She had always thought a son for a first-born would have been a wonderful thing.

She had herself to blame. She never even once tried to tell him how she felt. Maybe that was the problem. She had always been the assertive one in relationships, and deep down, she did not want to overwhelm him. He had his pride. He had his position.

And she wanted to be the loving, understanding wife.

And she tried to be understanding.

She really did.

Maybe… maybe love really did have an expiration date.

And theirs just… _expired_… ?

_Or did they ever really love each other?_

They were going nowhere. And Yamanaka Ino wanted to go somewhere. _Anywhere_. She had wanted to go anywhere with him. But he was just too busy. Or too busy being _busy_. Or too tired. Or too quiet.

Or too… _Gaara_.

It was funny. It was _because _he was Gaara that made her consider the marriage to begin with.

So what was the problem?

_Everything_ was the problem.

* * *

She wasn't expecting him to stop her. She had already signed the papers with her blood. She had expected him to silently read the papers, maybe twice or thrice over, before nodding and signing it himself because for the past four years, this was what he always did with things Ino had decided.

That was why when she found herself cornered against the wall with Gaara looming over her like a menacing shadow, she was at a loss for words.

"When have you started feeling this way?" was what he asked, bearing down on her with that placid expression on his face that did not match the aura he was projecting.

Ino was not the one to be intimidated, but she could not look him directly in the face. When _had _she started feeling this way?

_Three years ago?_

"A while now."

Gaara frowned down at her as he backed away from her, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why haven't I been… _informed?"_

Ino was at a loss for words. Gaara actually looked… disturbed.

"Why haven't I been informed that you were feeling this way?" Gaara asked again, a bit gentler this time.

Ino lowered her gaze. Why hadn't she told Gaara that she was feeling this way?

_Because we never tell each other anything. Ever. _

When she didn't say anything, Gaara took another step towards her, his arms uncrossing and gently landing on her shoulders. "What is it you want?"

That was what got Ino looking up, surprised. Gaara was asking her. Asking _her_ what she wanted.

Yamanaka Ino wanted many things. She was, after all, just a woman.

She guessed she wanted romance. Maybe the occasional date on a weekend. A conversation over dinner about how work was for him.

Flirting.

Fighting.

Sex.

Children.

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Ino pushed him away. He didn't even resist. He never did. "I want out." And she left the room.

She did not see Gaara crumple the divorce papers in one hand and throw it out the window.

* * *

He was never a demanding man. Ever since he was a child, he had never been given the opportunity to _want_ things for himself. By the time he was old enough to control the beast inside him, he had learned to accept the things that were given to him, but he never once _asked_ for it. And if he wasn't given it, he would work for it. _Hard_. When the beast was extracted from him, everything had changed. He started _wanting _more.

Yamanaka Ino was something he never worked hard for, or asked for or given to him. She had come into his life like a free, golden-haired sparrow in spring, speaking animatedly about flowers, and Naruto, and Temari and Shikamaru. That fateful dinner between Suna and Konoha that started their courtship had been one of the most uncomfortable settings for him, because she loved to talk, and she loved to touch him on the shoulder when she made certain points in the conversation. And the surroundings smelled like spring rain and cherries.

After that dinner, she had started sending short letters to him along with scrolls from Shikamaru to Temari. Gaara had no idea how to respond to her. He was never good at talking, more so writing, but he tried his best because he felt like it was only polite to return a reply. His responses were always short, and did not coax for another round of letter-sending, but after a week or so, another one would come from her, even longer than her last, asking about Suna, and about the food there, about the people there. And he had replied out of obligation,

Between a letter and another, he supposed, it started getting interesting, especially when she started talked about the flowers depending on the season, but it was strange because she wrote longer ones during the winter, even when there were no flowers a-bloom.

By the time he was asked to take a woman for his wife, she seemed to be the only one who he even wanted to consider. And so he asked. He was shocked when she had said yes. But he was happy.

Since he had never been used to living with someone, their start had been awfully rocky. She was never pushy, and she never asked for anything from him, just as he never pushed her and never asked anything from her. It had been a passive relationship.

No wonder she was unhappy.

"Are you unhappy with me?" Gaara asked her suddenly as she placed a cup of tea in front of him. Tea time was always the time she would spend a few minutes with him before work.

Tea and sympathy. Maybe he could get both tonight.

Her hand paused just a second too long before she pulled away. The question must have surprised her. She did not sit down on the table across him, but retreated to the sink, her back to him. She didn't say anything.

"Will ending this make you happy?" he tried again, keeping his eyes trained on the tea in front of him. He was surprised to see not his usual chamomile tea, but a different sort of flower floating on the surface of the steaming hot water. A Sakura blossom?

"What about you, Gaara? Are you even happy that you married me?" she suddenly asked. Her back was still to him, and her hands were busy with a rag, folding and unfolding it nervously.

He did not even hesitate with his answer. "Yes."

Her rag-folding ceased, and her shoulders hunched lower. "I never knew."

Gaara pushed his chair back, stood. "You make me happy. You just being here makes me happy. Have I failed you?"

She didn't say anything.

"Ino."

"What?"

"I love you. What can I do to make you change your mind?" He was begging. He knew it. And this was something he'd never done before, because he always preferred waiting for things to come to him, for people to give, because he did not think he deserved good things. He didn't know if he was doing a good job at asking or begging. But for the first time in his life, he felt like if he did not fight for this, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

She took her time in turning to face him, and he was shocked to see tears in her bright eyes.

Gaara moved away from the table, slowly made his way towards her. It was the first time he saw her cry. It was strange. She looked so beautiful. So beautiful it hurt. Taking her into his arms in a loose embrace hurt. "I was never perfect to begin with. But I'm willing to change. If it will get you to stay. Please stay."

She sobbed against his shoulder.

"Tell me what I can do to make you happier in this marriage."

"I… want… you to tell me what you're thinking," she started timidly, her voice muffled against his shirt. "Always."

He was guilty of keeping things from her, because he didn't want to bother her with his problems. But if that was what she really wanted… "It will most likely be about work. Nothing more. I don't really want to trouble – "

Ino shook her head vigorously. "That's exactly it. _Trouble me!_ I want to be a part of _that_ part of your life." She had started clinging on to his shirt. "That isn't so much to ask, is it?"

No, it was not. It was too small a price if it meant getting her to stay with him. "All right. From now on I'll tell you. Everything." He hesitated, then added, "Why did you have to wait this long before telling me something was bothering you?"

Ino buried her head further into his chest. "I don't know."

"You have to promise me you'll tell me what _you're _thinking as well. I'm not entirely smart, and I don't spot these things faster than I know you'd want me to. We've been together for four years, but you've told me more in the letters when we were courting than you have since we've moved in together." He was not accusing her. He was merely telling her what he honestly thought.

That made her look up at his face, eyes red from crying. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm equally guilty for the gap that's been forming between us. I guess I've been trying hard not to be a nagger. My friends at home say I am. And I had always thought you were too busy to bother about… _me_."

Gaara frowned. "You're my wife."

That had her smiling finally. "And you are my husband."

"I'll do better."

"I'll do better with you."

And he honestly believed that would be enough.

* * *

_A/N: I honestly think that the three things that cause couples to separate are pride, lack of the desire to change and lack of communication. It's just a sad fact that people who have been married for so long could let go of a relationship when they have a choice to save it by admitting there is something wrong and then showing enough initiative to change it. And that's coming from a hopeless romantic like me. :P _


End file.
